Man Dies Inside Acidic Hot Spring at Yellowstone National Park

A man dies inside one of Yellowstone Park's hot springs as he falls into the pool while trying to "check the temperature" of the water. According to his sister, he was trying to check the thermal pool's temperature because he wishes to "hot pot" or soak in it.

The man, 23-year-old Colin Scott, was on a holiday with her sister. He was originally walking along a boardwalk near Pork Chop Geyser when he started to climb uphill in search for the perfect spot to soak into.

A woman, who turns out to be the man's sister, Sable Scott, made a distress call to report to the rangers about the incident. When they arrived, the body was already floating face-up in the water. Conditions in the park hindered park rangers to recover the body immediately, and they were only able to return the following day. Unfortunately, the body was no longer visible. According to reports, the high temperature at 212 degrees Fahrenheit and high acidity of the pool may have dissolved the body entirely.

According to a report from CNN, the sister took a video of her brother with her cell phone, and from the video, it can be seen that Scott slipped and fell into the thermal pool. The thermal pool in the report was about six feet long, four feet wide, and 10 feet deep.

Soaking in the thermal pools of Yellowstone National Park is not in any way safe, leading to the reason why most of the pools are cordoned off. The brother and sister have illegally walked off the protected boardwalk and started venturing toward an area they think they could soak in, an action highly discouraged inside the park.

The park's thermal pools are usually acidic as water from deep underground picks up sulphuric acid on the way up to the surface. Such sulphuric acid is produced by microorganisms which break down hydrogen sulfide from soil and surrounding rocks.